U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) held a Coronavirus Town Hall by phone this week where he touted mail-in voting and warned that Russians are in America putting out misinformation about COVID-19.
Cohen warned that Russians are trying to make Americans believe Pentagon staff caused or created COVID-19.
“The Russians are trying to mess with us all the time. They are trying to mess with the election, by putting out information that is incorrect and mislead the public, particularly with African-Americans,” Cohen said during the call.
“They put out information in the last election, 2016, to dissuade African-Americans from even wanting to go to vote, by putting out material that would make them think ‘Well, what difference does it make?’”
Cohen also said mail-in voting is “effective, accurate, and safe.”
“On being able to vote, The CARES Act approved $400 million for an Elections Assistance Commission, and that will be helpful. That money will go and help states with additional mail in ballots and changing polling sites,” Cohen said.
“We know that’s not enough, and we asked for more on the House side, but that is what we got in the bill. We’d like to see universal mail-in ballots so nobody next November has to go to the polls if they feel like their health could be jeopardized. That should be an option for every American. There have been some statements that mail-in voting is fraud and that it’s not the right way to do things. But quite a few states have exclusive mail-in and they have done that for years. They have not had any problems at all.”
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, Cohen used the coronavirus as yet another reason to take political jabs at President Donald Trump.
This is not the first time Cohen has used the outbreak of a potentially deadly virus as a reason to attack Republicans.
As reported, Cohen said years ago the Ebola virus would mutate into a Biblical-style plague that would devastate Tennessee– unless state Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly complied fully with Obamacare and expanded Medicaid.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
My reactions are mixed. I certainly support Cohen’s call for mail-in voting. Many conservatives who oppose mail-in voting in principle had no qualms when they and their fellow rich white voters indulged in this same practice. Their only reason for opposing mail-in voting is racially and class-motivated. They don’t anybody else but themselves to have access to mail-in voting. They advocate something far worse than voter fraud, and that is voter suppression and voter intimidation. To threaten the right of law-abiding citizens from exercising their God-given right and God-given duty to vote is a blatant violation of human rights. Those law enforcement officials and politicians who deliberately seek to prevent the law-abiding from exercising their sacred right and duty to vote should be the ones in jail, not those who attempt to vote>
I do not, however, share Cohen’s concern with the Russians. The real culprits are fellow Americans in this country along with some client states like Israel and Saudi Arabia who exert far more undue influence on the U.S. electoral and political process than any Russians do. Indeed, the U.S. itself has interfered with elections from the 1940’s in Western Europe during the Marshall Plan, South Korea in 1948, Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, Chile in 1973, and Australia during the early 1980’s just to mention a few countries that the U.S. has illegally targeted. As for countries who meddle in U.S. elections, Israel and Saudi Arabia are far more guilty than Russia has ever been. Why is nobody speaking out against this hypocrisy? When AIPAC tells U.S. Senators and Congressional representatives how to vote or when AIPAC pays all-expenses junket trips for state legislators to travel to Israel to peddle their votes, why the silence? Why does AIPAC not have to register as a foreign agency?
Except for his obsession with Russia, I otherwise agree with Cohen on the bulk of his voting record.
Sorry but voting is not a God-given right. It is privilege extended by governing bodies.
Does 83 ragtop50 mean to tell us that we don’t have the right or duty to vote? Voting is a vital part of good citizenship! Evidently, our friend here does not want a huge chunk of tax-paying Americans to have a major say in their government. It’s one thing, according to 83ragtop50 to force everybody to pay taxes but not to have the right and duty to vote on these taxes and other issues. 83ragtop50 apparently believes in taxation without representation. Sounds like a British colonialist to me instead of a true red-blooded American!
Cohen, just another parasite.
The Democrats have pushed for mail in voting for years because it would assist them in voter fraud. Another case where the supposed intent does not justify the end result.